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Narrative
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Once you decide what you want to measure you have to make sure that the way you show it
helps the community to understand what it means. Indicators have to speak clearly to people.
Here is an example of a measure of a problem in a town that has a lake for a water supply.
The number of gallons per day is the line moving up from left to right. The straight
line at 3.4 is what is called the safe yield: how much can be taken out of the lake after
two consecutive drought years without adversely affecting the lake's ability to refill
itself. The straight line at 4.5 is the average yield: the amount that can be taken out
in normal years. As you can see, the amount used is getting close to the safe yield.
The typical response to this graph is: "Someone should solve this problem. Tell the
selectmen that they need to find a way to get us more water." Never mind that the
selectmen are only paid about $3000 per year for their work and if they raise taxes they
will be voted out of office!
This measure shows that there is a problem but does not help the community understand what
is causing the problem.
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